Port Kids for ANZAC

On ANZAC Eve Friday, April 24, a fleet of 3000 replica cardboard lifeboats will be launched on the Port River from 6.30 pm in a special Commemoration for the hospital ship Centaur which was sunk in 1943 with the loss of 268 Australians.

To mark the loss of 179 ambulancemen and 11 nurses, ambulance drivers and nurses in uniform will be among the 5000 people expected at the event, which from this year will gradually be organised and staged by school students, under guidance from Semaphore Port Adelaide RSL.

The names of all those lost on the Centaur, including 45 merchant navy crew, will be on the sides of 268 of the candle-lit lifeboats.

One of the patrons of Port Kids for ANZAC will be Australian Paralympian Jay Dohnt who won a swimming bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics,along with Federal MP Mark Butler and Port Adelaide Mayor Gary Johanson.

Jay will be visiting Adelaide schools to recruit students who are willing to join the Port Kids For ANZAC team to take over ANZAC events from older volunteers.

Above is a new painting of the Centaur by renowned maritime artist John Ford F.A.S.M.A. to mark the Commemoration and the start of the search
for the wreck of Centaur off the Queensland coast.

Framed prints of the new painting are being presented to Prime Minister Rudd, Veterans Affairs Minister, Alan Griffin, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and "shipwreck detective" David Mearns who will take it with him on the official search vessel when the Centaur search begins later this year.

David said: "Thank you, the painting is beautiful. I would be proud to take it with us.

"I did an interview with ABC radio today and mentioned the ANZAC Eve event and how this is being used to teach school children about Australia's war time history."

A copy of the painting is also being presented to the Caloundra RSL who have kept the flame alive for Centaur over many years.